ther the utensils of the deceased such as sumpitan, cooking utensils, parrangs, bliongs, &c.; these they place at the side; they then leave the spot and wander to other parts. The above account differs slightly from your own which shows that they are not guided by strict rules in the case of deaths and marriages.
Their language is the Malayan, spoken with a peculiar accent; whether or not they originally spoke another language I cannot offer an opinion. Their primary words are all the same, so it is probable that they speak the language unmixed with Arabic, but deeper research is required on this subject; an acquaintance with the philology of the Archipelago, might throw many interesting facts open to the world; your extensive enquiries on this subject will therefore be looked for with impatience. Their proper names differ entirely from the Slétar tribe, and are slightly mixed with the Malayan,[1] the following is a list,
Males.
- Lodang
- Jalee
- Angin
- Oomboo
- Solai
- Serong
- Rinnah
- Deman
- Ayin
- Nipis
- Bangas
- Mooloot
- Bootoon
- Rama
- Kassar
- Looioot
- Bintang
- Talei
- Kassaw
- Pang
Females.
- Reenee
- Bookit
- Tawei
- Teemah
- Meenah
- Nareemah
- Aisa
- Mungee
- Tengah
- Dyang
A copious list of proper names I would suggest as forming a criterion of what races they have been in contact with, and as not the least important of the branches of ethnological enquiry.
The personal appearance of these denizens of the forest is, to say the least, pleasing; well formed features in the young and a contented placidity of contenance in the old, would at once show them to be an improveable race; unshackled with the dogmas of the Islam and infantine in their preception of all things, they stand as its were on the threshold of such a faith as christianity presents in its primitive, most humble, and purest form, but they have no one to invite them in. It
- ↑ All the names are Malayan,—ED.
